St. Landry democrat., 1887-08-06

r with veil over her face, wanted to
know how it happened that she was a. k
" h'n her husband was white, and also
why she wore boots on her hands.
Few tales of suffering in savage lands
are more pathetic than those of the ignO-
rant white servant, who have known little
OF the viciSsitudes of travel in Africa until
in the pitileSs clutches Of some Jungle
depth they have sighed in vain for their
native land. The poor Dutch girl, Miss
Times maid, who, amid the marshes Of
Bahr ell Ghazal, kept crying as she wrung
her hands: "Oh, why did leave my own
Holland, was destined to perish in that
savage land Of whose manifold perils she
had never dreamed before she was hope
lessly involved in them.
Over two years ago Emil HOlub, who
wore the laurels of the successful ex-
plorer, led to the altar beautiful Wen
nese. 1t was known that his young bride
was to share with him the pcris Of
his future labors in Africa. Full of
hope and enthusiasm, the happy couple
sailed for Cape Town and then made
their way north to explore the sources
of the Zambesi and the Congo. For
once Holub's good fortune has de-
ScGtcu Hill. W ucu III anu HIS pltltN
wife babe goodbye to civilization they
had an equipment worth $4,000, A few
weeks ago they returned in rags, their
mission unfultilled, stripped Of all
resources, and almost dead from hunger
and fatigue The bride had seen the
thorniest side of African travel
Someways southwest Of Lake Bang
weolo the party, deserted by their port
ers, were attacked by fierce tribe. One
of the white servants was killed, and the
rest of the expedition barely escaped
with their lives. Without coverings to
shield them from the chill night air,
without a single vessel in which to cook
their food, without medicines or any
part of their equipment except few
guns and cartridges Mr. and Mrs. Holub
reached friends 400 miles south many
weeks after the disaster. Their feet were
bleeding, their shoes hardly held together,
and in the last few days they were barely
able to travel six miles day They had
lived on the game they found, and much
of the time they dared not fire a gun
within hearing of native villages. Holub
was suffering from fever, but his wife,
in spite of hardships as terrible as an
African explorer ever survived, was in
good health from first to last. 1t may be
foolhardy for the women of Europe and
America to incur the dangers of African
travel, but they have amply shown that
they can pass safely through fiery tests
of courage and endurance from which
even men shrink.
-Four years ago young woman of fine
education and many attractive qualities
asked the Baptist Foreign Missionary
Society in Boston to include her in
party of missionaries they were sending
to Equatorial Africa. The society de- |
clined to do so, because they were not
sending unmarried women to new and
untried mission fields. Having money
of her own the young lady decided to 60
to Africa on her own responsibility, and
it happened in the course of events that
she married member of the self-same
missionary band she had vainly tried to
join. The other day Tread bright, CHEEKY
letter she had written from her new home
at Bihe, on the southern edge of the Cen
trail African plateau. There this New Eng
land girl living with her young husband |
in matched cottage teaching black girls /
and boys how to read, and instructing
the women in the arts of cookery and |
sewing. Believing she is doing good /
and useful work she is apparently happy
and content in the isolation Of her Afri- |
can home. Not few such women
are now scattered through the mission sta
lions of Equatorial Africa. Like Mrs.
Livingstone, whose body lies buried on
the bankS,af the Zambesi, many of these
women WAlkaever leave the land where |
they have become voluntary exiles. But
they have friends in every country who !
will not cease to honor them for the part
they are taking in the great work of
retaining savage Africa.
G. C. ADAMS.